"A holographic Gengar from the Pokémon TCG set Skyridge just fetched over $30,000 at GameStop. The company is touting it as an own aimed at all the " trolls " who make fun of its infamously poor trade-in values. But the record-breaking deal is really a window into one of the meme stock retailer's slimy new loot box idea: trading card Power Packs."
"Pokémon cards are a giant cash cow. Scalpers raid GameStop stores multiple times a month to buy up all the new products that the Pokémon Company can't print fast enough. But GameStop barely makes any profit off of those sales. It can't just print its own Pokémon cards and start selling them either. So it's done the next best thing. It's started opening its own packs and reselling the rarest cards as part of Power Packs which are effectively digital slot machines."
"To participate, customers set up Stripe accounts, select the Power Pack they want, and then watch to see what card they get. The program is done in partnership with Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), so all of the cards are graded and slabbed. While the average value of a pack might be $100, most cards people get will be worth less than what they paid for the virtual blind box."
A holographic Gengar from the Pokémon TCG set Skyridge sold for over $30,000 at GameStop, which framed the sale as an own aimed at trolls who mock its trade-in values. The sale reveals GameStop's new Power Packs program, a paid blind-box system where the retailer opens packs, grades and slabs cards via PSA, and sells randomized graded cards digitally. Scalpers drive demand for Pokémon products, yet GameStop captures little profit from retail sales. Customers use Stripe to buy packs, and most packs yield cards worth less than the purchase price. GameStop offers a 90% buyback minus a 6% commission.
Read at Kotaku
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